Perspectives for the clinical application of ctDNA analysis to breast cancer drug therapy

Breast Cancer. 2024 Apr 23. doi: 10.1007/s12282-024-01571-9. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTCirculating tumor DNA (ctDNA) consists of DNA fragments released from cancer cells into the blood circulation with quick clearance. Analysis of ctDNA can enable real-time assessment of the presence of cancer cells and their genomic characteristics. Therefore, ctDNA is expected to be one of the most useful biomarkers for cancer. In recent years, several ultra-sensitive assays for ctDNA analysis have been developed, and many clinical trials are using these assays to investigate the efficacy of ctDNA-based therapeutic strategies. In the perioperative phase, real-time identification of minimal residual disease at the molecular level with ctDNA analysis can help evaluate the risk of recurrence to inform escalation or de-escalation of perioperative drug therapy. Many trials have examined whether therapeutic strategies using ctDNA analysis to predict treatment efficacy or resistance to molecular targeted agents can improve prognosis in metastatic breast cancer. In this review, we discuss the most recent ctDNA assays, the significance of introducing ctDNA assays to clinical practice, and the research on their application in perioperative and metastatic phases.PMID:38649655 | DOI:10.1007/s12282-024-01571-9
Source: Breast Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research